Walking aids for aged and disabled persons include canes, walkers, and the like. A cane is a device designed to be held in one hand, and it usually includes a support leg extending from the ground to a user's hand. A walker typically provides at least four legs and provides significant support and stability as compared to a cane. A walker usually will stand without external support, and commonly provides at least two hand grasping positions or handles. Persons using walkers may step among or between the four legs of the walker for maximum support during walking. Walkers are shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,445,313; 4,441,283; 2,708,473; 5,603,517; 6,145,524; 5,787,913; 5,649,558; 5,499,645; and 5,979,146.
Aged or disabled persons frequently must ascend and descend stairs in connection with their daily activities. Many homes and businesses provide stairways as the only means of moving between floors. Stair climbing is a human activity that requires strong legs, flexible joints, and a fair amount of dexterity. Stair climbing is sometimes very difficult for disabled persons. Most canes and walkers perform poorly or not at all on stairways. Walkers cannot function well on stairs because of the large difference in height between adjacent stairs, which is typically about eight inches or more. Attempts to use standard walkers on stairways can sometimes be very dangerous, due to the instability of a walker when it is not placed upon a level footing.
Physical therapists sometimes advise patients to sit down and slide from one stair to another when ascending or descending a stairway. This sliding method is quite cumbersome, particularly when the patient must carry or pull a cane or walker with them. Furthermore, once the patient has reached his or her destination by such a method, he or she then must rise to an erect standing position, which is very difficult for elderly patients and those without full use of both legs.
Several devices have been developed to ease the burden of traversing a stairway. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,146 (the “Corey patent”) is directed to a device that is designed to span more than one stair at a time. The Corey patent describes a moveable banister that is unilateral (i.e. supports one hand).
Walkers designed for climbing stairs have been disclosed. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,145,524; 5,787,913; 5,649,558; and 5,603,517. Several of the devices described in these patents include telescoping legs, in which the two “downhill” legs of a four-legged walker may be temporarily telescoped to a longer position. This adjustment requires a fair amount of manual dexterity to activate a leg lengthening mechanism. Further, it sometimes requires that the disabled person lean against a wall or another person while the walker is being modified to assume a stair climbing telescoped mode of operation.
What is needed in the industry is a convenient and efficient means of assisting a disabled or elderly person in ascending and descending a stairway. A device that is relatively easy to operate and does not require substantial fine motor skills would be desirable. Furthermore, a device that may be used in association with existing walkers would be very helpful. In particular, a device that is capable of temporarily adjusting for and extending stair height so that adjacent stairs on a stairway exhibit the same effective height would be very helpful. Furthermore, a device that can be used with a variety of stair tread heights would be quite versatile and helpful.